Ditching Like Cool Kids
by Red-Like-Lithium
Summary: Part of my "Inside the Sand" collection. Meetings are boring, and quite frankly, they've had enough.


_Theme: Humor/Family  
__Rating: K+_

* * *

"Why am I going along with this?"

"Because meetings suck."

The two young men were sitting on the cement floor, backs pressed against the wall, in some wide hallway of the building they were supposed to be at. Well, technically they were supposed to be in the middle of a session with the council, too, but forget details...

"I'm the Kazekage," Gaara muttered in that monotone voice of his, keeping his sentences short and to the point. "I should be there."

"I'm the Kazekage's bodyguard," Kankurou replied, smirk evident on his face. "I should be there, too, but I'm so fricken done with these assemblies. Seriously, they've been calling everyone together way too much ever since the war ended. It's taking away from everyone's lives. Plus, you can finally sleep and they're not respecting that you actually _need_ it now."

Gaara _had_ been listening, but was completely uninterested.

Why did he let his brother talk him into things like this? Honestly, these people wouldn't take him seriously as a leader anymore if they found out he'd ditched like a little kid did school. But Kankurou could be a rather persuasive person when he wanted to be, and Gaara found himself slipping out the back door when Temari wasn't looking. If she found out...oh hell.

"I bet Naruto does this a lot."

"I bet Naruto doesn't even _go_ to meetings."

Kankurou laughed at that, then quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, remembering that they were hiding from prying eyes and ears. After a long, drawn out moment, he removed it and said in a softer tone, "That Loud Hokage may be a good person, but he ain't a good role model."

Gaara_ almost_ called his brother out on that. _Almost_. Why? Because they were doing exactly what the Loud Hokage did and it was all _Kankurou's_ idea. But he shut his mouth and kept the comment to himself.

If anything, Kankurou made stuff much more enjoyable.

It was...fun to let the middle child talk the youngest into getting out of his comfort zone sometimes. After all, he and Kankurou had missed out on a lot growing up. Being immature and causing a little mischief was just catching up on those times. At least, that's what the Puppeteer called it. Gaara figured it was just him wanting to not get in trouble alone. Or both. Probably both. Not that he particularly _minded_.

Because like he'd admitted, being with Kankurou on these little "getaways" was quite entertaining.

But like usual, their freedom didn't last.

"Gaara, can we get an iguana?"

"...Why?"

"Because they're cool~!"

"...I'm not sure, Kankurou-"

"YOU GODDAMNED IDIOTS!"

Pain erupted in the brothers' skulls as a hand whacked each of them over the head violently. Kankurou gripped his hair tightly, surprise in his dark eyes, while Gaara groaned almost inaudibly and allowed the sand to swirl above him, as if it was trying to register what had just happened.

Temari loomed over them, hands on her hips, lips formed in a tight scowl. She was Sunagakure's Scariest Shinobi - or so they had dubbed her. And it wasn't just the fact that she carried an iron fan of death and could beat the two of them in an arm wrestle at the same time. Their older sister was simply terrifying through-and-through, _especially_ when she was pissed off.

"_What_ are you two doing here?!"

"Nothing!"

"That is such a lie, Kankurou!"

"Nothing."

"Don't try to back him up, Gaara!"

"Fine."

"Gaara~"

He shrugged at the brown-haired man a little, expression stoic as ever.

"Whose idea was this?" Temari growled. "Because it's your fault I got hounded by the old bastards about you two disappearing."

Slowly, Kankurou raised his hand weakly into the air (at the same time Gaara pointed at him).

"And you went along with him?!" she gasped at the former _Jinchuuriki_. "Gaara, you know better than to listen to Kankurou! He's a terrible example! I mean, _look_ at him!"

"Wow! Right here, Temari!"

"I don't care _where_ you are!"

Gaara blinked nonchalantly. "We'll go back to the meeting if you don't murder us."

That earned him a good glare that would have sent a whole brigade running.

.

.

The next time there was a session with the board, Kankurou and Gaara tried absolutely nothing funny.

Mostly because Temari brought them there with her hands gripping their ears and pushing them from behind, keeping her trained eyes on them every second, daring them to breathe, daring them to try something.

.

.

A month later, when Gaara and Kankurou arrived at another meeting and took their seats professionally, both began to wonder where the hell their older sister had gone.

.

.

_~Finish~_


End file.
